Sarasota, Here We Come!

Another summer day, another trip... or so it seems... For the long weekend we headed to Sarasota/Tampa.  We had planned to go to Tampa originally to go to a Rays baseball game with some friends from Jacksonville.  Then the Reboul family moved to Sarasota, so we amended our plans to include a visit with them.  During the day, the Tom and Adam played golf and the ladies... and Kevin hit the aquarium in Tampa.  After a disastrous lunch at a restaurant that seemingly had no food other than items from the kids menu and had limited drink selections, we ventured into the aquarium.  We stopped for a photo op with this busty mermaid statue.  Right before our picture some little boy fell into her and caught himself on her boob.  Then another little boy followed suit and purposely went in with both hands to feel her up.  All mothers in the vicinity were mortified/laughing/thanking God that they had girls...until Kevin went closer...  I stood like a deer in headlights.  What was he going to do?  Thankfully (not sure if that is the right word), he went up and stuck his fingers in her eyes.  I felt relief, but am not sure that was the right thing to be feeling!  Here are Laney, Kevin, Lauren and Caroline with the busty mermaid.

They walked up and found this floor window into the shark tank.

Then down to the sting ray bay.  Ahhh aren't they so cute...

Until one devious ray targeted our kids and started splashing them.  They caught Laney unaware and she was really not happy about it.  The rest of the kids went into it wanting to get splashed, so they had a ball.

On to the touch tank.  Kevin thought it was cool and was "eager" to touch them for a quick second with one finger.  Caroline was less eager and waited for us at the end.

Outside they had a play area...

Next to the splash park!  The kids changed into their bathing suits and had fun shooting each other with the water cannons

Walking....not running (KEVIN!) in the water play area.

I stopped Kevin long enough (Julie and I were sitting on some chairs sipping our margaritas, while the kids played.  Kevin "walked" past us and so I yelled at him to stop so that I could take a picture.  Now move along and have fun while the mommies relax...)

Another picture of the kids from our margarita sipping spot.

Unfortunately we had to get up from our comfy spot because the kids wanted to go back to the water cannon area.  Watch out Caroline, they are after you!

But they got hungry and it was time to meet the Daddies at the game.  A little snack of marshmallows before we go.

And a trip to the gift shop.  Kevin tried on this shark mask, but ended up getting a lego set that was more expensive than if I had bought it in Target.  Nice.

Now off to the game.  The Rays played the St. Louis Cardinals in interleague play.  We were excited that Tampa had a dome, so that we could enjoy a game without the oppressive Florida heat.

Only thing was it was a little TOO cold.  Kevin had to pull his arms inside his shirt, he was so cold.  The air conditioning vent was right above us.  But better to be cold then sweating hot.  Bad for beer consumption though!

Caroline and Lauren kept busy keeping score.  Reminded me of the days at Tennessee playing Baseball Bingo with Leslie.

And then there was the food...hotdogs, big pretzels, and cotton candy.  All in all a low food intake game for the kids.  No popcorn or ice cream.  They didn't even finish their cotton candy!  The game was a lot of fun.  We saw 2 homeruns, did the wave, and Johnny Damon went 4-4, putting him into 69th place on the all time hit list.  We even got up for his standing ovation!  Plus the Rays won! 

Sunday morning the kids played in the pool at our friends' house.  Then we headed to the park before heading home.  We thought it might lessen the tears that would come from the older girls.  Unfortunately, it did not.  They had a lot of spinning equipment at the park.  Caroline loved the solo spin.  She was making me sick!

The 2 younger kids loved this lie-down spinning thing.  They were so exhausted after the trip.  We thought they might fall asleep on it.  On the way home, Kevin took a 2 1/2 hour nap, which I expected.  What I did not expect was for Caroline to take a 2 hour nap.  Awesome!  Until we got home and the kids, still exhausted, but rejuvenated from their naps, did not fall asleep until almost 10 pm.

We had a wonderful time with our friends.  We miss you so much.